Congress to Gates: Screw You. Again.

The U.S. military is bracing for lean years, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has warned that the past decade’s “gusher of defense spending” is coming to an end. But you wouldn’t necessarily know that from the House Armed Services Committee’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011, passed last night.

Over the past few years, Congress has approved continued work on an alternate F-35 engine, a move that would break Pratt & Whitney’s lock on the JSF engine market by funding a competing engine made by a GE/Rolls Royce team. Supporters say a second design would ultimately yield some cost savings, but that argument has failed to move Gates, who has said that things don’t need to be any more complicated than they already are for the troubled F-35 program.

Then there’s money for 30 Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters: eight more than the Department of Defense requested. Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri, who introduced the amendment, said the extra aircraft (like the one pictured here) would “help address a looming fighter shortfall for the Navy’s carrier fleet.”

So much for austerity in naval budgets. Gates, as readers will recall, has already suggested that the Navy needs to take a hard look at whether it is right-sized — and whether it needs to keep 11 carrier strike groups for the next three decades. House authorizers, however, said their $65 billion recommendation for Navy and Marine Corps procurement was aimed at “reversing the decline in the Navy battle force fleet.”

The bill approved last night included $5.1 billion to fund two Virginia‐class submarines — the first time the committee has ever authorized two of the boats in one year — plus another $1.7 billion for advance procurement of two additional hulls in FY 2012. Members also recommended $3 billion to fully fund two DDG 51 Arleigh Burke‐class destroyers and $1.5 billion to pay for two Littoral Combat Ships (which, it’s worth recalling, were originally supposed to cost around a quarter billion dollars apiece).

The panel also added $361.6 million above the budget request for ballistic missile defense. If those additions are included in the final bill, the round dollar amount for missile defense — around $10 billion — will be roughly in line with what the Bush administration was spending each on its nascent missile shield.

And finally, this version of the bill is larded with “unfunded requirements” money. Panel members recommended that U.S. Special Operations Command, for instance, receive an additional $301.5 million to pay for “tactical vehicles, operational enhancements, and special operations technology” as well as to “expand and extend authorities supporting counterterrorism.” Authorizers also inserted $289 million to support unfunded requirements for force protection equipment and testing for troops deployed in the field.

It’s part of a Washington budget charade: Every year, Congress asks the services to outline their “unfunded requirements,” and the service chiefs offer up a wish list of the things that aren’t included in the regular budget request. Gates has pushed back against the practice, saying he wants to review the lists beforehand. As the Stimson Center’s Budget Insight blog noted recently, this has resulted in a dose of fiscal restraint, but there are still plenty of items in the bill that aren’t in the budget request.